


lily-of-the-valley

by ShowMeAHero



Series: how to expect the unexpected [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Pregnancy, Trans Male Character, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:08:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23190658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShowMeAHero/pseuds/ShowMeAHero
Summary: Richie stared down at the three separate pregnancy tests he'd bought at CVS. Each of them is a different brand, a different color, a different little symbol, but they're all the same result. He exhales shakily before dropping his face into his hands, scratching at his scalp.An abrupt knock on the door to their master bathroom makes Richie jump, knocking one of the tests to the ground. On the other side of the door, Eddie asks, "Richie? You okay?"
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: how to expect the unexpected [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683577
Comments: 14
Kudos: 187





	lily-of-the-valley

**Author's Note:**

> more gender feelings.... MORE!!!!
> 
> for when i'm feeling pregnancy/gender feelings that don't go in cherry apple pie, they'll come here insteaaaaad

**_october 9th, 2020_ **

* * *

Richie stared down at the three separate pregnancy tests he'd bought at CVS. Each of them is a different brand, a different color, a different little symbol, but they're all the same result. He exhales shakily before dropping his face into his hands, scratching at his scalp.

An abrupt knock on the door to their master bathroom makes Richie jump, knocking one of the tests to the ground. On the other side of the door, Eddie asks, "Richie? You okay?"

Richie snatches up the test that fell. It's the one that has words instead of a little picture or tiny lines. This one just says _PREGNANT._ Richie's stomach turns.

"Oh, _fuck,"_ Richie spits, before falling to his knees and vomiting into the toilet. His grip on the test in his hand makes his knuckles go white before he lets it go, abandoning it on the cold tile floor so he can grip the rim of the basin.

Eddie knocks on the door again and then says, "Richie, I don't know what's wrong, but if you don't answer me I'm gonna go get the key to the door—"

"No," Richie tries to shout, voice rasping. He flushes the toilet, then grabs up the pregnancy tests on the counter and shoves them in his pocket. He stretches, then, and unlocks the bathroom door, but the pull makes him nauseous again and he surges back up over the toilet.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Eddie asks, almost too fast to understand. He smells like the garage, still, all oil and gasoline. Usually, Richie loves it. Now, it makes him gag. "Richie? What happened, did you eat something bad? Are you sick? What have you—”

Eddie stops talking so abruptly that Richie's momentarily thrown off balance. He reorients himself before glancing backwards at Eddie to see what distracted him, but he's just kneeling silently behind Richie, one hand holding his hair back, the other hand reaching for the floor. It only takes Richie a beat to realize what he's seen, that he's just looking down at the word _PREGNANT_ right now without context.

"I'm so sorry," is the first thing that comes out of his mouth. Eddie picks up the pregnancy test and just silently stares down at it. His hand holding back Richie's hair doesn't move.

Eddie glances towards their trash, then looks to Richie. Sheepishly, Richie sits back and digs the other tests out of his pockets: Eddie releases his hair to take them. He has to, but Richie still takes it personally. He's too terrified not to.

"Eds," Richie tries again. "I just— I didn't know. You know I'm on T and you said you were shooting blanks, so I didn't— I didn't even think—"

"Rich," Eddie says, voice quiet. He stops, then inhales deeply, staring down at the tests. "Don't apologize."

Richie flushes the toilet again, then leans back against their bathtub and watches Eddie. After a long moment, Eddie lifts his head and looks back at him, too.

"Richie, I— _I'm_ so sorry," he says. "I'm so, _so_ sorry, I just— Myra and I tried for _years_ and _nothing,_ I don't— I don't understand how this could've happened."

Richie nods, even though he's not sure why. Suddenly, he's embarrassed, and he quickly looks down at his hands. He sniffles.

Abruptly, Eddie's hand is on his chin, tilting his face up to examine his eyes. He presses the back of his hand to Richie's forehead and asks, "What's wrong, what hurts?"

Richie shakes his head, pulling away from Eddie's touch. He feels— strange, out-of-body and buzzing and excited and unfocused and _afraid._ More than anything, he's fucking _terrified._

"Richie," Eddie says, voice carefully soft, now. Richie sobs once, then buries his face in his hands. "Richie—"

"I didn't know and I'm so sorry, Eddie," Richie manages to say. Eddie looks heartbroken; he lifts his arms, and Richie can't stop himself from crumpling into him, burying his face in Eddie's lap and sobbing. He's not even sure why he's crying, but he just _cries,_ and Eddie rubs his back and strokes his hair, softly shushing him.

"You don't have to be sorry," Eddie tells him. "There's nothing for you to be sorry for, okay? _I_ should— _I'm_ sorry, I'm the one who did this to you—"

Richie shakes his head, gripping the material of Eddie's pants between his fingers. Eddie bends over him, pressing his face into Richie's hair, at the back of his head. He keeps stroking his back in long, slow sweeps as Richie slowly quiets and calms back down.

"I got you," Eddie murmurs to him. "You're okay. I got you."

It takes Richie a bit to actually regain his ability to speak but, when he does, he says, "I know you— I know you didn't want your coworkers—"

"Shh, shush, fuck my coworkers," Eddie says. "You've worked so hard and you've— You've said _multiple_ times how you feel about people knowing you're trans—"

"It would've come out sometime," Richie says quietly. "I mean. People would figure it out sooner or later. And I— I wanted people to know eventually, and to— to be out, y'know, like they say I— Like I wanna be, like I _should_ be, you know, _out and proud,_ you know, so— so I can be— I don't know, a fucking role model or whatever, but I'm— I'm so— I'm still so _scared,"_ Richie admits, tears filling his eyes again. "Eddie, I— I don’t know what to do, I'm _so_ scared—"

"Shh," Eddie murmurs again. He gingerly pulls Richie up, rearranges his limbs so he can tug him into a hug. Richie clings to him.

"Please don't be upset," Richie says quietly. Eddie's hand stills in his back.

"Did you think I'd be upset with you because of this?" Eddie asks. "Richie, I'm— I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm freaked the fuck out and kind of fucking— Shellshocked, I don't know, I really was not fucking expecting this, but— You have to know how much I love you. And how— how happy you make me, Richie, I _love_ you."

"I was excited," Richie admits. Eddie pulls back, pushing Richie's hair back from his face as Richie continues, "When I first saw, I— I was so excited, but then I started panicking and I didn't— I didn't—"

"It's okay," Eddie tells him again. "I promise, it's okay. I'm excited, too."

Richie's eyes flick up to Eddie's, and he quietly, desperately asks, "Are you _sure?"_

"Are _you_ sure?" Eddie asks right back. "It's _your_ body, Rich. Are _you_ okay with this?"

Richie nods frantically, and Eddie draws him in, kissing him softly. He drifts back, after a moment, separating them, and his attention shifts down. Richie pulls his shirt off over his head to give Eddie a better view.

To the untrained eye, he doesn't look all that different. Richie had even assumed he'd just been putting on weight in a weird way, and Eddie hasn't commented on it at all. Eddie reaches out now, though, skimming his hand over the scars on Richie's chest and down over his soft belly. When he pushes in slightly, his fingertips brush over the slight hard swell already there. He's been putting off actually taking the test for a couple weeks, once he figured out what was going on, so he's not even sure how far along he actually is. Whatever it is, it's enough that Eddie puts his hands on his sides and exhales slowly.

"Are you sure?' Eddie asks. His thumbs rub small circles into Richie's clammy skin.

"That I'm pregnant or that I want it?" Richie asks.

"Either," Eddie answers. "Both."

"Yup to both," Richie says. "Well, the first one's a _yup_ as long as we can trust these tests, which. I think maybe we can."

Eddie nods, looking Richie over again. He lifts his hand, palm hovering over Richie's lap as he looks to Richie for approval. Richie gives it with a nod, so Eddie settles his hand flat against his belly, now, sliding his hand to the center to feel.

"Fuck," Eddie curses. His eyes fill with tears, too, and he repeats, emphatically, _"Fuck."_

“You promise you’re not mad?” Richie asks. Well— he’s begging, almost, and Eddie realizes that, because he draws him in and holds him in an embrace instead, right there on the floor. One of Eddie’s hands slides down between them, presses flat against the slight swell of Richie’s belly like he can feel their baby there. Richie likes to think he can, so he imagines Eddie might like that, too.

“I’m not mad,” Eddie assures him. “Richie, I’m not mad. It’ll be okay. I’m here, alright?”

“Okay,” Richie agrees quietly. He’s silent, for a moment, but then the joy he felt when he first started realizing what was happening starts to bubble up again. Without the fear that Eddie might be angry — irrational though it may be, he still had it — he lets the happiness come up unabashedly, overflowing until he laughs.

“What is it?” Eddie asks. Richie can hear the smile in his own voice as he speaks.

“I think I’m really fucking excited, Eds,” Richie tells him. Eddie laughs once. “Seriously, I think I’m really, _really_ fucking excited.”

“Is it wrong for me to say I am, too?” Eddie asks. “Like, I’m also seriously fucking freaked out, do _not_ get me wrong, I have to do— Oh, fucking shit, _so_ much research, holy fuck, I have to figure this out—”

“One thing at a time,” Richie says. Eddie nods, then pulls back again to frame Richie’s face in his hands for a brief moment.

“I’m so proud of you,” Eddie tells him. “And I’m so happy, and you don’t have to doubt either of those things, okay? So you don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll take care of everything, okay?”

Richie nods, feeling tears spill over and down his cheeks again. This time, though, he’s overjoyed instead of overwhelmed, the terror leaking out of him and replaced with a feeling so sunshine-bright it has no name he’s aware of.

Eddie kisses him again, bruisingly hard, before he pulls back and laughs. He pushes their foreheads together and breathes, “Thank you, Richie.”

Richie nods, then smiles right back. “I don’t know what you’re thanking me for, I should be thanking _you_ for dicking me down so good—”

“Fucking _hell,_ Richie,” Eddie snaps, cutting him off. Richie nuzzles his cheek against Eddie’s, then buries his face in his throat, clinging to him. Eddie rubs his back slowly.

“You should blow in me more often,” Richie continues, like Eddie hadn’t even spoken. Eddie groans, starting to pull back, but Richie doesn’t let him, tugging him in until they’re both sprawled out laughing on their bathroom floor.

**Author's Note:**

> You can (and should!) come chat with me about this AU on Twitter at [@nicolelianesolo](https://twitter.com/nicolelianesolo) and/or on Tumblr at [andillwriteyouatragedy](http://andillwriteyouatragedy.tumblr.com/).


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